


Dreaming of Stars

by Dizplicity



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Errortale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), all other universes and characters other than Underswap are just mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 23:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20683973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dizplicity/pseuds/Dizplicity
Summary: Dreams don't make sense. And of course they don't, they're not real. Just delusions. Fantasies. You know this, yet something about the ones you've been having lately seems different. Seems far too real. You begin to wonder why.





	Dreaming of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> This is from Underswap!Sans point of view. Enjoy!

You believe in people.

This thing, believing in people, it's not as hard as one might think. 

It's almost like your second nature, really, and you're not quite sure where it comes from, or if maybe you were just born with it, but the point is, you believe in people. You really truly do. 

You believe in the best of people. 

You believe that everyone is a good person at heart.

You believe that everyone deserves a second chance.

You...You believe in people.

And whether or not _he_ does too, when you bring this up to your brother he always smiles and nods, agreeing with your hopelessly optimistic point of view as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

Deep down you know he thinks it's silly. You can tell by the way he shifts his eyes to the side before smiling and by the way he pauses for just a moment too long before agreeing. 

You're not stupid, you're just cheerful and maybe a little too trusting, but you're definitely not stupid. 

So that's why when the human approaches, their hands covered in dust and their face hidden by shadow, you know that the very last thing on their "to do" list is to give you a hug. You know that, yet you open your arms and you widen your smile and you spare them. 

You spare them because you know they're going to kill you. 

You spare them because you know you have no chance. 

You spare them because you know they just need a friend, and gosh wouldn't that be great if they just put down their knife and walked away? Maybe even accepted your hug and became your friend and-

You know. 

You know that isn't going to happen. 

And as their knife slashes across your midsection, you think that maybe Papyrus was right all along. 

But no, that's just insane, right? There's no way your lazy brother could ever be right about something! You're The Sansational Sans after all, you're always right,

always right, 

always...

You fall to your knees and your left hand comes up shakily to grasp at your ribs and you're bleeding. 

You're bleeding and it hurts, it hurts so much, but you're still smiling, you're always smiling. You're smiling as you look up at the human and wish them good luck. 

And as your body begins to fall apart, to crumble, to fade, you're still smiling, but you're crying now too.

You're crying because you know. You know that Papyrus was right, he's always right, and you feel so so incredibly stupid. 

But wait, that's not right, right? 

None of this is right, right? 

None of this is real.

...Right?

And suddenly you're lying on your bed in a mess of tangled sheets, and you're eyes are opening and your throat is dry.

You let out a sigh.

Blinking awake and shivering, you toss your sheets aside and hang your legs over the side of your bed. It's still dark out, but then again it's always dark out down here, so you look at your clock. 

Three in the morning. 

You yawn. 

The carpet feels nice under your feet as you get up to retrieve your battle body from your closet. Since you're already up you might as well get ready for the day, you decide. 

And you're not afraid, you're just not tired anymore, you tell yourself as you check under your shirt to make sure there's no blood. 

And you're not afraid, you're just hungry, you tell yourself as you head downstairs and open the fridge, humming yourself a little tune you feel like you've heard somewhere before. 

You're not afraid, you're just-

"Sans, why are you awake?" Papyrus asks from the staircase, and your heart speeds up as you realize you're being incredibly not quiet. 

"B-brother!" You stutter, nearly dropping the taco you just made, and you don't know why you feel so relieved to see him alive. "What are you doing awake so early in the morning?" 

"Heh. That's actually what I asked you, bro." He drawls as he rubs at his eyes, clearly wanting nothing more than to return to his bed and sleep for the next week.

"O-Oh..." You look down at your hands, which are laced together in front of you, and fiddle your thumbs. "I just don't want to sleep." You lie.

To that, Papyrus says nothing, but Instead walks down the stairs and stretches his arms above his head, his bones popping in that way you hate, and you cringe at the sound. 

You continue to watch as he ever so gracefully plops down on the couch and pats the empty spot next to him, calling you over to sit. Normally you'd remind him that you aren't Lesser Dog, but now's not really 'normal', and you're just too tired to care. 

So instead you accept his offer, and climb up onto the empty spot beside him, letting your weight sag into the couch and your hands lace together on top of your stomach. He looks at you and waits for you to talk. 

When you don't, he does instead. 

"Did you have a nightmare?" He asks In a sympathetic tone, and you curse his amazing intuition. Or are you just that easy to read? Probably the latter.

You laugh, but it sounds a little forced, so you look to the side and try to pretend that didn't happen. 

"Nope." You say, as you remember a small human with large red eyes. "No nightmares at all." You say as they slash through your brother's neck as if it were nothing. 

But Papyrus is still silently looking at you with something in his gaze that tells you he can see right through you, so you widen your smile and strike a confident pose. 

"Even if I did have one, it would never scare me!" But he's still looking at you, and oh, wow, you wish he would just stop. "I'm the Sansational Sans after all, nothing scares me! Well, except maybe Alphys when she's in a super bad mood, but definitely not nightmares! Such sorry excuses for dreams could never get the best of someone as great as me, so..." 

So...

So you pause and look down at the floor, curling in on yourself because you realized you were starting to ramble. 

To your side, papyrus is still looking at you, or so you think. You can't really tell because you're just looking at the floor and wishing you weren't here, but you can feel his gaze burning holes in your back, and so you know he's still looking at you. 

You want so badly to leave.

The thought is tempting, and this conversation is really going nowhere, so you think about getting up and doing just that, but before you can even collect your thoughts, there's arms around your body and a head next yours and you're being embraced. 

"Papyrus, wha-"

"C'mon, just tell me what's wrong." He coaxes in a voice that makes you quiver, and your eyes open wide, and you start talking before you really know what's going on. 

"I'm fine," you're saying. "really, I am!" And considering how your voice is shaking, it sounds ridiculous even to you. "I-I'm fine Paps, don't worry, I...I'm fine..!" 

And now you're crying, and shaking, and it's hilarious really, that you ever thought you could fool your own brother. Despite how lazy he is, he really always knows when something's wrong, and you really should give him a little more credit. 

But for now you can't think of anything except the sound of your sobs and the warmth of his hug, so you just stay like that and cry in his arms for who knows how long. By the time you pull away, the shoulder of his jacket is soaked and your eye sockets sting. 

"You okay now, bro?"

You nod. 

"So, tell me what's wrong." 

"Ok." 

You nod once more, and now he's waiting for you to talk, so you swallow the lump in your throat and comply. 

"I... I have some strange dreams. Dreams where you die! You die by the hand of the human we met." 

The human whose knife is so sharp and whose eyes are so big and whose clothes are so dusty. 

"But the human is nice... right?" 

And you think you know the answer to that question, but you don't. 

Do you? 

"Sometimes I see myself," 

But your teeth are sharp and your eyes are red and your gaze is hateful. 

"but so different." 

And it's scary. 

"Sometimes I feel like I'm an [ERROR]." 

Because you glitch and you hate and you scream. You scream until the screams scream back.

"I feel so wrong," 

Because you are.

"or so right."

Because you're not.

"And sometimes I see..."

But you realize you don't remember.

"I see..." 

Or maybe you do, but it's all so hazy and jumbled that it's like your looking through stained glass. 

Like you're looking through a void that keeps getting darker

darker

yet darker.

"I'm sorry." You whisper, blinking away the confusion. "I don't want to talk about it anymore." 

It's quiet for a long time after that, or at least you think it's been a long time. You're not really sure since you're more focused on keeping your tears at bay than the tick tick ticking of the clock. 

"Come with me." Papyrus says finally, breaking the insufferable silence, and you look up at him in surprise.

"Huh?"

But he's already up and opening the door and asking if you're coming or if you're just going to continue sitting there looking like a giftrot in headlights. 

You get up

You follow him out the door and down the icy path towards Waterfall. The icy path where so many of your dreams take place. Your grip on his arm gets a little tighter. 

You follow him past one of his many sentry stations and through Alphys' puzzles. You solve them because he's too lazy, but you're not really complaining. You like puzzles. 

You follow him until you reach a little cavern filled with echo flowers, where you hear the faded whispers of wishes, drowned out by the sound of rushing water and the glimmer of glowing rocks.

He stops. 

"Why did we stop here?" You ask in a small little voice, and an echo flower repeats the question back to you, reminding you of your own incompetence.

Papyrus doesn't answer your question, but instead lays down on the ground, his arms crossed behind his head. He looks like he's going to fall asleep. 

"Wait, WHAT?!" You screech a bit too loud, forgetting what time of night it is, and all the echo flowers in the room screech back. "Are you serious?! If you wanted to sleep you could of just-"

"Look." 

"Ah." 

And he's pointing now, his index finger extended towards the ceiling, so you follow his gaze and-

Oh. 

You're looking at the stars. 

Hundreds of sparking, gleaming, glowing stars. 

And you know they're just crystals embedded in the ceiling of a cave, but the way they glimmer in the otherwise dark and gloomy underground makes you think that maybe, just maybe, they could be real. At least for now. 

You plop down on your back next to Papyrus and look at the stars. 

"I know they're not real, but-"

"STAAAaaaaaaars" you drawl, and papyrus laughs. 

Hundreds of little blue stars reflect in the lights of your eyes, and you wonder. 

You wonder if /they/ love stars like you do. 

Your teeth are sharp and your eyes are red and your gaze is... 

Your gaze is kind. 

And papyrus is scowling, his arms crossed and his expression angry, and he's saying he doesn't understand why humans find stars so lovely. 

But you can't help but disagree.

You think they're beautiful. 

You're glitching and hateful but it's silent. 

so silent.

So you open a portal to your favorite universe in the string of the multiverse and just sit there and watch the stars.

You laugh to yourself and it comes out distorted like an [ERROR] and you hate it, but you think its fine as long as the stars are still there.

You think they're wonderful.

You smile in that lazy grin of yours and look through your telescope at the crystals on the ceiling.

At the stars in the sky.

Papyrus really doesn't understand why you find them so fascinating, and you don't expect him to, but when you tell him about the constellations on the surface, he still smiles and nods like its the most interesting thing in the world. 

You make a bad pun about stars and you think you've ruined the moment. 

You think they're extraordinary. 

"Goodnight, bro."

**Author's Note:**

> So this is another fanfic I found in my phone notes four years after I wrote it and decided I should just go ahead and put it out there. I mean, somebody might enjoy it right? If you liked this or if you want to give me any constructive criticism, please feel free to leave a review. I was kind of being experimental with the second tense (this is the first time I've written anything in second tense) so I'd love to know what you think! ^.^


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